What’s more harmful than cigarettes but society treats it as normal?

I had a really really high paying job in NYC but worked 12 hours a day 7 days a week. After 2 years I quit and moved to NJ. I work for the government for a slight pay decrease but only 35 hours a week. Best decision I ever made

So true. Society honors extra hours but skips the fact that stress and sleep deprivation are the highway to the next life

Facts. Burnout is the one thing everyone flexes like it’s an achievement. Meanwhile it’s aging us, draining us and wrecking our bodies quietly

bragging about 4 hours of sleep like its a personality trait. hustle culture is unhinged and were just vibin along for the ride to burnout

Society be like "sleep is for the weak" and then wonders why everyone is depressed and driving into diches, ong 

True, sleep quality is also very very important

I despise people who work themselves to the bone almost as much as I despise their employers for allowing it to happen. They make it harder for everyone else by essentially telling their employer, “This is fine,” and their employer then expects the same from everyone else. It’s *not* fine, and it makes it much harder for anyone with a backbone to stand up to the company and refuse to work themselves to death. This is why we needed unions, but Americans got so used to being protected that they forgot whey we needed them in the first place. Now you have working class people vomiting up conservative, anti-union talking points like they’ve had a corporate chip implanted in their dumb f****** brains. I’m thankful that my employer seems to treat work/life balance like it’s more than words. They give us extra “mental wellness” days off now (they doubled the days this year, in fact), and management training spends a lot of time focusing on how to spot burnout, how to address it (encouraging time off, frequent breaks, etc), and how to get mental health services when needed. I’ve worked for employers who simply don’t care about this stuff, and the difference is like night and day.

Modern society is designed to induce chronic stress as one of many tools to help keep the poor and working class oppressed and/or fighting amongst themselves. You'd be amazed how much easier it is to spread propaganda and disinformation to people whose cognitive function is impaired by chronic stress and lack of sleep.

Someone should tell my baby about that.

As sports books are pushed on every website and TV show and gaming companies are sneaking gambling into kids games..... Think we are catching on that it's lucrative that's about it

Are we? Polymarket was an eye opener for me... crazy something like this exists.

Yeah. Smoking kills you horribly years after the fact. COPD/lung cancer, etc are all horrible ways to die. Liver cirrhosis also kills you horribly after heavy alcohol consumption. Both ways are terrible ways to die that will ruin your life. Gambling addiction ruins your life *now*. It just bankrupts and leaves you in the gutter. The damage it can do is basically the same as heroin/cocaine/crack, just without the potential to kill you instantly if you screw up the amounts. Otherwise it's the same track of bleeding you dry of all your assets.

Catching on that it’s insanely lucrative to a few tech bros?

Issue with gambling is that it's an addiction that you can possibly exercise it so well that it could fix all of your problems. Not that it's likely because even if you do chances are you will convince yourself to keep going. Gambling advertisement should be treated the same as cigarettes in the uk, no public advertisement allowed amd all gambling material should be forced to show you the bleakest outcomes.

Gambling is free money if you have a system. I haven't won big yet but I know that if I stay with my system I will hit big any day now.

And working your life away

Sometimes Ill put my phone in a different room for a few hours. It is pretty crazy how many times I get the urge to look at a phone in those hours.

Im 47 and struggle, and my brain was developed WITHOUT it. Im legitimately worried for younger people who were raised during Facebook.

Same. It's completely hijacked my brain for the worst. I can't think like normal. I am constantly overstimulated and on edge, and when I'm not on social media, the addiction feels like a magnet and I also feel on edge. Awful cycle. I'm glad I had some years before this epidemic to enjoy life. Some generations; this is all they know.

The number of people doomscrolling while driving is legitimately concerning. Look around while at a red light at any busy intersection. We are the people in Wall-E.

I gave up booze, cigs and drugs all at the same time but the internet is so hard to stop. I used to love reading books, would read a book a day, but not read one in years. I just wish I could throw my PC out the window. funny thing is when Im out I don't miss it at all, even if I spend a week or so away, I don't use the internet unless for important things

Not just attention spans. Algorithms favor engagement which often means presenting people posts that will anger them or make them sad/doubtful about the world around them. Much like how news media hyper focus on crime despite crime levels plummeting in my lifetime. But worse because it is fine-tuned to find your interest and respond to things you click on regularly. So it is anger-inducing clickbait chosen based on your patterns with the intention of keeping you upset all the time so that you don't log off the app. And of course, this can lead to skewed perspectives and very easy misunderstandings about events and other people.

It's not just attention spans. It's killing human connection, sometimes quietly replacing it with para-social and contact lacking online relationships. Strong social bonds are one of the big factors in health and longevity.

That's an understatement, it's completely ruining people's lifes, especially brainrot addicted children

If alcohol is so bad than why can't I stop drinking it?

I still party every once in a while but man my quality of life went up when I stopped drinking every weekend

It’s crazy how ingrained drinking poison is in our society. Just became a cultural norm. I do it, myself.

absolutely. Every major trauma I have dealt with in my life has been a result of someone who can't control themselves while drinking.

The cause and solution to all of life's problems

This right here. I have a friend who is a public defender. He says that 90% of his cases involve drugs or alcohol.

I've cut back a lot this year and it's nice waking up not hungover hating life, and on the plus side i don't crave it much

Why is this so far down???

100%, no one ever raped someone or crashed a car because they had too many cigarettes. And let’s not ignore the massive health consequences there are for cancer risk throughout the entire body…

Opinions shouldn‘t be divided. The facts don‘t lie. It‘s the addiction, that causes the most harm and the biggest part of it is not to the addicted himself, but to the people around him. There are even studied about that.

I've had problems with alcohol since I was 18. I'm 35 now and it's only this last year or so that I've been able to accept that and start doing something about it. In the last 7 months since quitting I've gained 12kg in the gym, feel much healthier and have way less stress, even about things that used to stress me out. For anyone thinking about quitting alcohol. Do it. It *will* be the best decision you've ever made. It doesn't matter who you are, just do it.

Can't sleep, so I am here, reading about it.

Actually on PFAS I think it’s going somewhat in the right direction. I work in the automotive industry and most OEM‘s demand a timeplan on how we get completely rid of PFAS in our products within the next couple of years

"Pesticides. In heavy agricultural regions, they are more heavily linked to cancer than cigarettes." Interesting. Source?

Three cigarettes

Related to that, air pollution is actually regarded as one of the leading causes of death worldwide. 

Cars in general

Tire particulate is especially bad as well.

Pianist here. All of my job involves sitting. Not great

prolonged sitting is not worse than cigarettes lol.

AKA being American.

And in this US having your healthcare tied to your employer. One thing wrong with you and you're potentially stuck to a job that has a toxic workplace.

Benzo withdrawal can also kill via the same mechanism.

Benzo withdrawals can kill you as well.

In all ways except for the potential for lethal withdrawals, crack cocaine would like a word. I've met plenty of alcoholics who retain their family or job - never met even a medium crack user who had either.

Define that

People have misinterpreted the body positivity movement.  Firstly, body positivity is for everyone no matter their size. There are healthy-sized people, even athletic people, everywhere who live in a constant state of despising their bodies. At a minimum, this causes distress, anxiety and depression. At its worse, it can trigger eating disorders. People struggle to accept their bodies *no matter what weight they are*. The body positivity movement is about disrupting social narratives that shame people for having bodies that do not conform to aspirational, elite social norms. It applied to weight, to height, to skin colour, to hair type, to having prosthetic limbs, to having acne, to body hair, to alopecia.  Secondly, almost no one who believes in body positivity is encouraging people to become obese or not care for themselves. On the contrary, it was always about reengaging with your body in mentally healthy ways and taking good care of it. When you start losing shame around your body, feeling like you have to hide it away, and losing the feeling that you have to apologize for your body, it becomes much easier to make healthier choices. Leave the house, go exercise, go for a hike, go socialize, eat in public, get some proper sleep cos you’re less anxious. It has allowed obese people to enter spaces they didn’t feel welcome in before, the prime example being public gyms and pools.  Plus, obese people are allowed to experiencing joy: feel comfortable wearing a bathing suit to the beach or the spa. They’re allowed to wear pretty clothes. They’re allowed to enjoy food. 

Agreed but also this is vague. Refined sugars and high fructose corn syrup, especially in the quantity it exists in otherwise innocuous foods? Yea that shits horrible for your body. I think type 2 diabetes is more common than smoking related illness even? But hey that’s a shot in the dark so if some of wants to confirm that’d be sweet.

It already comes with that judgement, it’s just not openly said. It’s sort of why being neither obese nor overweight has really become the biggest ‘wealth’ indicator in developed countries. It’s of course the most overrepeated thing of all time, but going from obese to not, or especially being somewhat fit, really completely changes how you feel and moreso your treatment. Certainly doesn’t solve everything, but it really is wild. Especially after 30